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Peace broker announces new date for Sri Lanka peace talks

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

New Delhi, April 16, IRNA
Sri Lanka-Peace talks
Peace talks between the Sri Lankan government and Tamil rebels which had earlier been scheduled to held on April 19 has been reset for April 24 in Geneva, Norway's peace broker announced Friday.

The talks in Geneva were due to open on April 19, but the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) said Thursday they wanted more time to discuss the security situation in the island's restive east with field commanders.

"The parties to the peace process in Sri Lanka have now agreed on a short postponement of the peace talks in Geneva," the Norwegian government said in a statement issued in Colombo, a media report said here.

Norway said the talks due to start on April 24 would be shortened to two days instead of three as originally planned.

The agreement came amid a new wave of violence in the island's restive northeast, where three people were killed and five others injured this week, prompting the authorities to clamp an indefinite curfew.

Meanwhile, Sri Llanka's main financial backers will also be meeting in Tokyo on April 24 "to review the present situation of the peace process in Sri Lanka."
Norway, Japan, the United States and the European Union -- who spearheaded the 2003 donors' conference in Tokyo -- voiced "grave concern about the worsening situation in Sri Lanka and strongly condemn the recent acts of violence."
"The co-chairs strongly urge the government of Sri Lanka and LTTE to meet...in Geneva," they said in a statement issued in Brussels.

That meeting provides an important opportunity for finding ways to implement the ceasefire agreement and the commitments they gave at their previous meeting.

Meanwhile, three civilians and two soldiers were injured Friday in a Claymore mine attack Friday on a bus carrying a group of soldiers in northeastern Sri Lanka as the country marked its traditional new year with religious and cultural events.

The Claymore mine was set off near a bus which was taking meals to soldiers in Trincomalee town, 250 kilometers northeast of the capital on Friday afternoon, military officials said.

The incident came two days after a bicycle bomb explosion in the Trincomalee market which claimed the lives of 19 persons.

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